This is a classical debate among Lean newbees and even among specialists are the 5S the first steps to SMED or not As so often there is more than just a binary choice If you are not now familiar with 5S you may get a primer reading my posts series The Quick Beginners Guide to 5S If you are not now familiar with SMED you may have your introduction with this post What is SMED or a more funny one with this series SMED explained while doing laundry Lets start with the pros The 5S are a good way to restore basic conditions enabling efficient and safe work in a legible environment where the clutter is taken away and everything is made simpler and visual 5S do not only get rid of the clutter but require to fix broken equipment replace worn out tools overhaul machinery 5S define rules for sharing common hand tools locate items make the current condition immediately visible and from far away The very example of this is the shadow board outlining the tools shapes When a tool is missing or hung on the bad location it can be spotted from a distance saving the walking to the board to discover the needed tool is not available or out-of-order This works with document files with the famous slant line across the files back Any missing or ill-positioned file breaks the line 5S will save a lot of time searching for tools fixtures documents and avoid mismatching the different versions 5S rules are defined by the area workers themselves They are regarded as Subject Matter Experts and the decision of how work environment should look like is delegated to them With some limits though 5S rules can never trump safety and health regulation rules for example 5S are especially recommended when trying to reduce the changeover duration with SMED When trying to reduce all wasted time when changing from one production batch to the next or from one production series to the next searching for tools jigs fixtures documents parts material etc is no option Prior good 5S help a lot smoothing the changeover operations and significantly reduce the waste of time 5S are easy in appearance but hard to sustain Therefore I respectfully consider them as a school of rigor and discipline If an organization is not capable to bring its operations and supporting departments to a high level of 5S maturity and sustain it chances are that introducing more demanding and more complex tools and methods will fail Thats why I agree 5S are the first steps to SMED When an organization is in the burning platform state meaning quick action is required to fix a major problem restore customer service or bring back a decent performance level starting with a 5S program deployment is probably not the best option This would look like arranging the chairs on the sinking Titanic or in plain language diverting precious time and resources focusing on the wrong objectives It might surprise newcomers to SMED but two specialists having opposite opinions about starting a SMED program with or without 5S might be both right The good choice is simply condition-related If more productive capacity is direly and urgently needed 5S is not the best option to start with You dont ask people to tidy up their workspace as one once angrily argued And hes right but he didnt consider other conditions than the ones he was familiar to If the main objective is to let operators learn about the Lean basics and hone their waste-spotting capabilities 5S would be a good pick for a starter It brings people to gradually understand the importance of rigor and discipline as well as to continuously improve the work environment and work execution itself About the author Chris HOHMANN